The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-07-13
I. A. EDISON, THE WIZARD.
TELLING ABOUT HIS EXPERIMENTS
IN SUBMARINE SIGNALING.

TELLING ABOUT HIS EXPERIMENTS
IN SUBMARINE SIGNALING.
The Ca ,ins of Vessels Seven Miles Apart
Can Talk With Each Other--In Philadel-
phia Buying Electrical Apparatus for
Eis Laboratory.
A smooth-faced, thick-set, youthful
looking man, attired in a gray suit and
accompanied by two handsome young
women, stepped briskly up to the desk
of the Continental Hotel Office and regis
tered in a plain round back-hand,
''Thomas A. Edison, Orange, N. j." It
was the wizard of electricity. The young
women were his wife and sister in-law.
He appeared to be enjoying the best OF
health, and said the stories about his
being at the point of death while IN
Florida were without foundation. He
said he had come to Philadelphia to
purchase electrical apparatus for his new
laboratory at Llewellen, N. J.
TWO MILLIONS IN EXPERIMENTS.
The laboratory, the erection of which
has just begun, will, when finished, be
as large as the University of Pennsyl-
vania buildings and will be devoted en-
tirely to experimenting. The machine
ry Will be Of the largest and most i'm
proved patterns, the machine shop alone
being 200 feet long. Mr.. Edison, in
speaking Of the cost of experimenting,
said he had expended over S2,000,OO0 in
experimenting, but as it was strictly in
the line of his business he had found it
money well invested. In speaking Of
his Florida trip he said he was so well
pleased with the climate that he had
erected a permanent laboratory on the
banks Of the Caloosahatchie river, where
he viii continue his experiments every
winter. He has erected number Of
e!ectric-light plants in several Florida
towns, but he has not devoted much
time to plants.
SIGNALING UNDER WATER.
One of his most interesting expert
nents was in submarine signaling, by
which messages can be transmitted from
ship to ship by means of steam whistles
operated by keys in the same manner as
telegraphic instruments. All his expe-
riments have so far been confined to the
waters of Caloosahatchie, where he has
succeeded in conveying intelligible mes
sages distance of one mile. The prin-
ciple on which he will endeavor to per-
feet his experiment is the remarkable
facility afforded by water for transmit
ting sound.
Divers in the ocean have heard the
swish of q steamers wheels fifteen miles
away and Mr.. Edison thinks he can
transmit his message from ship to shipa
distance of at least seven miles. What
he purposes doing after he has perfected
apparatus is to have the large ocean
steamers equipped with the steam whis-
ties and 5ransmitters. Under the water
line of each steamer will be sounder,
connected with the captains cabin by q
thin transmitting wire running through
q LuDe. " HAeA G40 SSSeeaA2 ~ oAS sS"'N'SA
wants to signal another he Will sit down
to his keyboard, turn the steam on his
whistle, manipulate the keys and send
the message out into the waves that
break against the sounder. This sound
will pass unbroken from wave to wave
with remarkable velocity until it runs up
against the sounder of some vessel or
vessels which may happen to be within
reach Of the volume of sound.
AS soon as the wave containing the
sound strikes the sounder on the hull of
the vessel or vessels within reach, the
message will run over the electrical wire
to the captains cabin, where it will ring
an electrical bell. An attendant Will
then take down the message as it comes
from the water, by means of telegraphic
keys, as comfortably and correctly as
though he were sitting in one Of Jay
Gould's Western Union Telegraph offices
receiving news about one Of Jay Gould's
Dig deals.
PASSING TT ALONG.
After the message has been received
the captain can swing bis vessel around,
and continue the message through seven
miles of water, in tie same direction,
until it strikes another steamer, when
the operation may be repeated until the.
whole breadth OF the ocean has been
crossed. It Will also be useful as means,
of signaling by vessel In distress.
Mr.. Edison seemed confident that his
experiments would meet with success,
but regrets that he cannot send the mes
sage by electricity, instead Of a steamer
whistle.